Naka Matsuzawa Nomura Securities Co.
The buy side says: “He has good insights and is not afraid to speak his mind.”
Naka Matsuzawa, 45, of Nomura Securities Co. debuts at No. 1 in this new sector. He holds an MBA from the Haas School of the University of California, Berkeley, and joined Nomura in 1996, spending his first 18 months as an equity strategist then moving into fixed income. Matsuzawa is bearish on medium-term Japanese government bonds, largely because funds that companies set aside last year for postearthquake reconstruction are likely to be used this year and next year, thus “shifting money from bank deposits into the real economy, while reducing the buying power of banks in the Japanese government bond market.” Plus, as Europe’s debt crisis eases and U.S. Treasury yields stabilize, he predicts investors will move out of yen-denominated and into European and U.S. instruments. Matsuzawa, who is praised by one backer for his “unbiased” views, recommends a barbell trade: Buy five- and 20-year government bonds while selling ten-year, which look the “most overvalued and will be most vulnerable in a down market.” — Carolyn Koo